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Tachihara was born in Andong city, Gyeongsangbuk-do province, Korea to Korean parents. His father was a member of the former Korean aristocracy and a military officer serving the Joseon Dynasty, who became a Zen priest after the Japanese annexation of Korea, and subsequently committed suicide when Tachihara was age five.

Four years after his father's death in 1931, Tachihara moved with his mother to Yokosuka city, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. His Korean name was Kim Yun Kyu (金胤奎: 김윤규), but he changed his name to Nomura Shintarō (野村 震太郎?) when his mother married a Japanese man. Later, he registered his name as Kanai Masaaki under the soushi-kaimei policy, but after his own marriage (to a Japanese woman), he once again changed his name to Yonemoto Masaaki (米本 正秋?). He has been naturalized in Japan in 1947.

Tachihara was strongly attracted to medieval Japanese culture, particularly Noh drama, and traditional Japanese gardens, and his novels are patterned after the aesthetics in Zeami's Noh treatise Fushi Kaiden. Tachihara's interests included the collection of ceramics, especially many Korean Yi Dynasty works. It was not until after his death that his Korean ethnic background became widely known.[1]

Tachihara's first novel, Bakushū (“Autumn Wheat”) was published in the literary magazineBungei kenkyūkai. It was well received by literary critics, which led to his decision to become a professional writer. In 1958, he published Tanin no jiyū (“Other People's Freedom”) in the magazine Gunzō, followed by Takigi nō (“Firelight Noh”), Tsurugigasaki (“Cape Tsurugi”) and Urushi no hana (“Lacquer Flower”).

He won the 55th Naoki Award for his novel Shiroi keshi (“White Poppy”, 1965). He also declined the Akutagawa Prize twice, as he felt that the reward would damage his reputation as an author of serious literature.[2]

One of his books, Wind and Stone, has been translated into English by Stephen W. Kohl.